Psychologist

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Whenever a school shooting takes place, school officials often arrange for grief counseling services to be made available for whoever needs them. But what exactly do those services entail? To answer that question, The Conversation reached out to Philip J. Lazarus, a school psychology professor at…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain When William A. Smith, a scholar of education and culture, introduced the term "racial battle fatigue" in 2003, he used it to describe the cumulative effects of racial hostility that Black people—specifically faculty and graduate students—experience at predominantly white colleges and universities. In short, it takes a toll on their psychological, physical and emotional well-being.…

Credit: Petr Kratochvil/ public domain A good gift can elicit a surge of happiness and gratitude in the recipient. It also feels great to give, with psychologists finding that the joy of giving a gift is more pronounced than the pleasure of receiving one. Unfortunately, there are times when you receive a gift and you have to force a…

Video games are an undeniably great way to unwind, escape reality, and have some fun — but they’re also a double-edged sword. Under certain circumstances, playing video games can easily morph from a fun and lighthearted activity to a problematic behavior that leads to irritability, addiction, and social isolation. So what’s the best way to navigate this slippery slope? Is there a way to reap all the mental health benefits of gaming while avoiding the pitfalls? To get some guidance, we got in touch with Dr. Kelli…

Struggling to sleep is a common problem for many in the world right now. In fact, upwards of 30 to 40 percent of adults in the United States alone report symptoms of insomnia and trouble sleeping throughout the year. But not every case of trouble sleeping is tied to insomnia. Sometimes, your biggest sleep killer is something as simple as your brain. According to Dr. Aric Prather, a psychologist who studies sleep, rumination can cause many to lose out on much-needed sleep. Prather, who published an article on…